I have participated in Tallinn University’s Winter School in a course called “Gamification and Design of Serious Games”. I have learned a lot on this topic and made a concept of a game “Art&History” for artists and people who are interested in art. In this post I am going to explain its mechanics and gameplay.
Art history is a very interesting subject and one of the ways of learning it is through yourself. This is what my game is focused on. I want people who enjoy drawing to learn stylistic features of various artists by creating their own art.
The gameplay:
At the beginning of this game, you choose a style of paintings which you would like to learn.
Then, you are given an overview on this art style.
After it, you need to create a picture in this style.
You are given a canvas and a toolbar with 6 different brushes. After you finish drawing, you are given some more information about this particular style, including artists who worked in this style and its main stylistic features.
Then, you are asked if you think that your artwork was drawn in this style and if not – you can go back and redraw or add something. After you’ve finished, you unlock an achievement and gain access to a “Bonus Question”.
If you answer correctly – you unlock a new brush, which you can use in later drawings.
If you answer incorrectly – you don’t gain a new brush, but you can answer a different question in a main menu later and if the answer is correct this time – you unlock it.
Let’s stop on “Achievement” mechanism and how they are given to a player.
1. A picture is drawn in this app.
2. It is loaded to Google Images search. Google gives a result which is assigned to a player as an achievement.
3. It is processed using AI to make an Achievement title.
Because the search result is based on the selection by a Google Images database (which includes all cultural heritage) – this is why the result of each comparison will be unique.
It creates a potential for player to share their Achievements and launch a Telegram channel with players’ titles.
You can also view a Figma prototype of this game with clickable buttons and an overview on a gameplay.